{"id":357,"date":"2013-01-03T14:51:58","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T20:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ebcsv.com\/blog\/?p=357"},"modified":"2015-05-21T05:48:17","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T10:48:17","slug":"a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Years Resolution &#8220;True Happiness&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-336\" src=\"http:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/happy-new-year.jpg\" alt=\"happy new year\" width=\"155\" height=\"207\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>Blessed are the happy?<\/h4>\n<p>So have you made your new years resolution yet?\u00a0 Let me just ask you, what is the one thing that you can do this year that will make you truly happy?\u00a0 Do you have it?\u00a0 Have you ever thought about what really makes you happy?\u00a0 We often think that changing our current circumstances is what will make us happy.\u00a0 If only I can loose 10 pounds&#8230;\u00a0 If I can only save more money&#8230;.\u00a0 If I can get this or that, then I will be truly happy.\u00a0 The problem is happiness never seems to come.\u00a0 <!--more-->I mean even if you do get what you want are you truly happy?\u00a0 We chase happiness all our lives only to realize that we can never fully grasp it.\u00a0 Happiness always seems to elude us.\u00a0 The reality is happiness is not meant to be something we can attain on our own; it is a byproduct of our living.\u00a0 In the Sermon on the Mount (Jesus longest recorded sermon), Jesus talks about happiness and how to attain it.\u00a0 At the core of his message he gives eight core traits or values by which we should ascribe to.\u00a0 These traits are called the Beatitudes and they are found in Matthew 5:3-11.\u00a0 What is interesting is that each of these eight traits is accompanied with the phrase \u201cBlessed are\u2026\u201d\u00a0 The Greek word translated \u201cblessed\u201d is the word makarios.\u00a0 It does not mean receiving a gift or getting anything but simply means happy or receiving a happy condition.\u00a0 Jesus was saying here \u201cOh how happy are those who are poor in spirit\u2026of those who mourn\u2026of the gentle\u2026of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness\u2026the merciful\u2026the pure in heart\u2026the peacemakers\u2026those persecuted for the sake of righteousness.\u201d\u00a0 Let me just ask you, do these eight traits describe you.\u00a0 If they do you will be happy.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t then you will never find happiness until you live out these principles.<\/p>\n<p>All eight traits are vital to you being happy.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t a dollar menu where you can pick and chose which ones you like and which ones you don\u2019t, this is a package deal.\u00a0 All of these eight points are essential to being a Christian with a kingdom perspective.\u00a0 This is not an easy assignment like loosing 10 pounds that is easy compared to this.\u00a0 What Jesus is calling us to here is a total attitude transformation.\u00a0 If we transform our minds and lives to living out the will of God the way we were created happiness will not be something we chase after it will catch us right were we are.\u00a0 The payout for this New Year\u2019s resolution is huge.\u00a0 Give it a try and see if happiness finds you.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_counters\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:2px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_c=new Array(\"twitter\",\"facebook_like\",\"facebook_send\",\"google\",\"pinterest\");var hupso_counters_lang = \"en_US\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_c=\"\";var hupso_title_c=\"A%20New%20Years%20Resolution%20%22True%20Happiness%22\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/counters.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blessed are the happy? So have you made your new years resolution yet?\u00a0 Let me just ask you, what is the one thing that you can do this year that will make you truly happy?\u00a0 Do you have it?\u00a0 Have you ever thought about what really makes you happy?\u00a0 We often think that changing our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A New Years Resolution &quot;True Happiness&quot; - EBCSV Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A New Years Resolution &quot;True Happiness&quot; - EBCSV Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Blessed are the happy? So have you made your new years resolution yet?\u00a0 Let me just ask you, what is the one thing that you can do this year that will make you truly happy?\u00a0 Do you have it?\u00a0 Have you ever thought about what really makes you happy?\u00a0 We often think that changing our [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EBCSV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-03T20:51:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-05-21T10:48:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ebcsv.com\/pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/happy-new-year.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pastor Matt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pastor Matt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ebcsv.com\\\/pa\\\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ebcsv.com\\\/pa\\\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Pastor Matt\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ebcsv.com\\\/pa\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/996314bb8c3c31b6de805e8e690f0922\"},\"headline\":\"A New Years Resolution &#8220;True Happiness&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-03T20:51:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-05-21T10:48:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ebcsv.com\\\/pa\\\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":469,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ebcsv.com\\\/pa\\\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/ebcsv.com\\\/pa\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/happy-new-year.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ebcsv.com\\\/pa\\\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ebcsv.com\\\/pa\\\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ebcsv.com\\\/pa\\\/a-new-years-resolution-true-happiness-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"A New Years Resolution \\\"True Happiness\\\" - 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